VIENNA, Ohio (WKBN) – The Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County (AWL) is participating in a national competition to help save homeless pets, which is patterned by the NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament.

“When we received the invitation to participate, we jumped right on it. This is truly just a fun way to raise some funds to support the work we do at AWL, but it’s also a no-lose. Even if we aren’t the champions all money donated comes to AWL, but we would really love to be the champions,” said Lori Shandor, CEO of AWL.

The event is called “March Muttness,” which is a bracket-based competition coordinated by the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. Two organizations will compete head-to-head for the most financial contributions.

There will be a total of 64 national animal welfare organizations that will be competing in this event.

The organization that raises the most financial contribution during the allotted time will move on to the next round.

The competition started at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

AWL is currently facing the Panhandle Humane Society in Scottsbluff, NE. As of Thursday afternoon, AWL was leading with over $134 in donations.

The first rounds of competition will continue until 11 a.m. Thursday.

“It’s just a win-win because even if we don’t go clear to the end and become the champions, all of the donations still come to us here at AWL but of course, we’d love to be the champions,” said Lori Shandor with AWL.

Should AWL keep their lead Thursday night at 11 p.m. they will advance to the second round.

To make a monetary donation to AWL, you can click here.

If you want to follow current standings and brackets or help AWL get to the next round of competition, visit MarchMuttness.com.